WVU basketball coach Bob Huggins is getting a second chance.
Many may question the decision by WVU President E. Gordon Gee and Director of Athletics Wren Baker to give Huggins an opportunity to make right the ignorant and hurtful comments he made on a Cincinnati radio show.
In just a few seconds, Huggins managed to offend and degrade a respected institution, the Catholic faith and a segment of our community that for too long has suffered the slings and arrows of crass and debasing remarks.
It was a triad of insults more akin to a boorish lout trying to impress equally base and bigoted pals than a thinking adult, much less a person in the position of Bob Huggins. By the way, there is a suggestion that Huggins did not know he was on the air at the time. I don’t know if that makes his indefensible utterance better or worse.
He damaged the University and came very close to getting fired. Top officials at the University who made the final decision heard from those who believe Huggins’ comments should have led to his dismissal. Gee and Baker chose a different course.
Huggins’ rapid apology is unequivocal. He offers no excuse and takes responsibility. He pledges to “do better” and that includes meeting with “WVU’s LGBTQ+ Center and other state organizations to learn more about the issues facing the community. As a leader, I am eager to use my platform to take what I learn and share it with a broader audience.”
I should think it will be meaningful when a WVU student and Mountaineer fan looks Huggins in the eye and tells him what it feels like to be called a f—.
He has pledged $1 million of his salary to support WVU’s LGBTQ+ Carruth Center, as well as other state and national organizations that support marginalized communities.
Huggins wants to make amends to Xavier, the Catholic institution he insulted during the radio interview. According to WVU, “Coach Huggins personally volunteered and WVU agrees that he will make a substantial donation to Xavier University to support its Center for Faith and Justice and its Center for Diversity and Inclusion.”
He is also suspended for the first three games of the season. The University pointed out Huggins now has a one year contract instead of an extended-year agreement and he has been warned that any incidents of similar derogatory and offensive language will result in immediate termination.
These are the primary conditions of his second chance.
Much has been studied and written about the benefits associated with second chances. Here is what therapist Dr. Susan Krauss Whitbourne writes in Psychology Today:
1. Those who have been hurt have an opportunity to forgive. “Being magnanimous pays off in terms of your own emotional benefits.”
2. Change is possible.. “People can learn from their mistakes—and when you give them a second opportunity, you allow them to demonstrate this.”
3. A second chance is like an emotional reset. After a sincere apology and acceptance of that apology, everyone gets an opportunity to start over in the relationship.
4. Each of us would like to be treated the same way. “Turn the tables and imagine that it’s you who needs the second chance. Wouldn’t you feel better if you were given an opportunity to try again?”
Second chances are essential to growth. Without them, we would each be subject to the guillotine of judgement, from which there is no coming back. Bob Huggins has escaped that fate—narrowly—and now it is up to him to take advantage of the grace he has been given.